Selwyn Alternative Prospectus

ASNAC
“ASNAC (Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic) is a degree which you will
spend your whole university career explaining to friends and family! In
essence, ASNAC is a degree that focuses on the early medieval history of
the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, touching lightly on other major
European players during this period such as France. However, what makes
ASNAC different to a standard history degree is the fact that you can also
learn the old languages and literature of these regions, be that old Welsh,
English, Irish or Norse. The department even offer free extra-curricular
lessons in modern Irish and Icelandic, with the modern Icelandic course
tailored to compliment a summer course in an Icelandic university (there is
both departmental and college funding in place for opportunities such as
this).
Being a small department, there will likely only be a couple of students in
your entire college studying ASNAC which could seem a little isolating.
However, in my experience it means you create friendships across the
university and across year groups, particularly when a member of the
ASNAC Social Society, which organises inter-college formals, film nights
and even an end of year play. At Selwyn in particular, the Linguists Society
also includes ASNAC and this is another great way of making friends
across subjects within your college.
Finally, due to the small size of the course and the niche nature of ASNAC
as a subject, your lecturers and supervisors are more often than not world
experts in their field and you will often end up writing essays on their
books! The size of the course also makes for an incredibly close knit
community and I can honestly say that the ASNAC department is one of
the friendliest, most helpful and most welcoming departments in
Cambridge.
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It is also briefly worth noting that the contact hours for ASNAC are
relatively low, (for example, in first year I had 10 a week; this year I'm
down to 7) which does inevitably mean a lot of independent work.
However, supervisions are predominantly one to one and lectures are
often twenty people and under, meaning the contact time you do get is
comparatively intense and focused on you as an individual.”
- Hannah F